Summer Vacation 2010

School vacation began (today!), following yesterday's half-day. So far, Joe fell wearing roller blades on a step in the garage....hit his head on the cement floor. Maddie and her bf had a breakup, and possibly a reconciliation. Since school ended (yesterday around noon) Bryan, Joe & Maddie had team meetings - and I went to (both of) mine w/the new varsity coach. Today was a packing-day at Mom's. The kids had 78 fights by noon, Chris overslept so I ran him into Boston....

I wonder what Day 2 will be like?? ;o)

Something'about Christmas-time.....clear through February vacation!!

Christmas in 2009 was great, though a bit of a blurrr. The big deal this year, of course, was my Dad's - Grampy's - stem cell transplant. The tree came and went, but with a big "return" to white lights on it again! The girls and I loved it. Christmas surprises included various electronics and clothing, winter coats and various funky toys. Kathryn and Joe's January school concert was fantastic - my first musician's performance! Joe is playing the saxophone. Kathryn's class sang an *awesome* version of "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey. It was great! 

In January Joe's sax/band practices doubled up to 2 mornings a week, before school. Maddie's winter cheer season is reaching it's pinnacle with competition on 2/27 and will hopefully go on to Regional level. Driver's Ed classes are well underway, and the process of doing college research stuff is sneaking it's way in. 

Winter has been very kind to us, with the DC area taking HUGE hits of snow and MA getting very little. I'll take it...mild, gentle, peaceful. Not so bad! February vacation was painfully slow-moving with a lot of bickering and fighting among the kids, but April vacation is within sight. We need to get back outdoors, but having the quiet period with only occasional basketball for an hour a week, I could stay on this bandwagon for a while.

         

A few pictures from Dec/Jan/Feb. 

A Few Autumn Pics - 2009

TOP Swans in the lake behind the house:  BELOWMaddie's Confirmation Oct 2009 Kathryn, Thanksgiving Game 2009

Maddie and Scott after the Thanksgiving Game 2009

Natick Falls, Autumn 2009Bryan, Nov 2009 in NorwoodGaining yards (Bryan)

Bryan, Catching some Weymouth action.Joe.....Fierce.

Our Annual Hibernation

The kids and I are on our annual pilgrimage back to Sanity Oasis, via some R & R and hibernation. I didn't realize how desperately we all needed it until it began. Since the last blog update (yikes, that's a while), we hurled ourselves into football and cheer - so much so that I convinced them that the concession stand is "Home Cookin'" - started school, and broke down and regulated the sleep schedule a bit too. I have written, re-written and e-mailed out our family newsletter, saw my Dad off to the hospital and into the Stem Cell Transplant, shopped and put up the tree. Football and cheer proved to be hectic and demanding, but awesome. More importantly Dad's condition continues to improve, thank God, despite some minor speedbumps, such as an infection in his PIC line on Christmas Eve (which his "Team" rapidly treated and resolved) and some swelling in one arm & feet/ankles that brought his weight up thirty pounds! (Those aren't 30 good pounds, and his arm looks like it should be held in place with rope, given the Macy's Day Parade quality it has.) 

So 2010 is looming with lots of question marks. This is the calm before the storm, regardless of whether there is resulting damage or not, I feel like I should be battening-down-the-hatches somehow. My abhorance to becoming a pessimist is in a constant battle with staying a devout optimist. Several friends moved away in the second half of this year....one as far as Arizona (wth?)...and I have to remind myself that the black cloud is coincidental, and not following me around.

Or, rather, it's big enough to be over LOTS of us.

My aunt and uncle's recent medical challenges have been ongoing, and yet remind me that the network of family is SO much more important than I sometimes realize.

In the overall scheme, everyone is ready for a week in front of the fireplace. It would be cool if we could finagle a month, however. I only stacked enough wood for about a week though...I supposed that will have to do!

Beach Therapy

Beach Therapy is a beautiful thing. No matter how much sand gets in my suit, nor how icy the water is, or how windy it gets....or how many black flies there are, how much the parking rates have climbed, or who falls backward into my cooler (don't laugh, it happens regularly)....I need some beach therapy. I can't believe summer is nearly over and that I seem to have missed it again! Last year was such an unusual good/bad tweed with all the comforts of fiberglass underpants and I swore this year I would cherish it more than ever before. Somehow I don't seem to have fulfilled the promises I made to myself and I am closing my eyes and clicking my ruby red shoes to go back to July 1 and get a do-over.

Alas, Christian is traveling again, football is underway, school and CCD are starting soon, cheerleading has begun, and down-time is non-existent - until November or so.

I SWEAR next year will be different. Really. But can I get another day or two of Beach Therapy in before this summer collapses in on me like a landslide? $15 to park seems like overkill but $15 for therapy, now, that's a bargain, right? I'm calling for a Beach Day this week. I can't settle down into fall without a fight...

(and apparently I don't ever want to be photographed in color EVER again...esp at the beach!).

My own Bad Medicine...

I suck at remembering to take my daily meds...no, really, I suck a LOT. (Insert the necessary jokes about it being birth control and having 4 kids.....have a solid refrehing giggle, and carry on)

I have a 1 month filled script here in front of me, and I have a script for ritalin (which I also forget to take (ironic, cause yes, I forget to take my Ritalin - duh): go from giggle to nearly laughing).....which are both full...from a month (or more) ago. This isn't occasional forgetfulness, this is a determination that supercedes anything right or reasonable...the consequences - by all accounts - are "serious" in nature.

My final surgery for thyroid cancer was in June '00 (the first was in April '99). I have, since, occasionally taken meds, and sometimes feel crappy (and then I resolve to take it again...every day, forever) and read up on it to freak myself into commiting. However, it says that your hair falls out, your face bloats and reddens, you begin to take on an appearance like a ghostly character from ScoobyDoo episodes, and parts start falling off. But seriously, I find things like this (and I swear on my kids I am NOT making this stuff up):

"Symptoms
Insufficient thyroid hormones cause body functions to slow. Symptoms are subtle and develop gradually. They may be mistaken for depression. Facial expressions become dull (No, really...I AM smiling...) , the voice is hoarse and speech is slow, eyelids droop, and the eyes and face become puffy. Many people with hypothyroidism gain weight, become constipated, and are unable to tolerate cold. (Can you imagine? Cold all the time? Oh, right, I am....ALWAYS. For no reason. Gotcha.) The hair becomes sparse, coarse, and dry, and the skin becomes coarse, dry, scaly, and thick. Some people develop carpal tunnel syndrome, which makes the hands tingle or hurt. The pulse may slow, the palms and soles may appear slightly orange (What?? ORANGE??? Look at the name of it!) (carotenemia), and the side parts of the eyebrows slowly fall out. Some people may appear confused, forgetful, or demented (ROFL, Yeah, Really - demented. Priceless.)—signs that can easily be mistaken for Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia.

Hypothyroidism

If untreated (If "untreated"....ie, in case those symptoms weren't enough to scare the piss out of you), hypothyroidism can eventually cause anemia, a low body temperature, and heart failure. This situation may progress to confusion, stupor, or coma myxedema coma), a life-threatening complication in which breathing slows, seizures occur, and blood flow to the brain decreases. Myxedema coma can be triggered in a person with hypothyroidism by physical stresses, such as exposure to the cold, as well as by an infection, injury, surgery, and drugs such as sedatives that depress brain function.

So, you see, it's perfectly logical that I might forget to take the medication every day. Who wants legit weight-loss in a once-a-day pill anyway???

Absurd....perfectly absurd. I guess what irritates me is that they SAY all this will happen, but I'm walking evidence that it doesn't (can only speak for my own experience, but hell, is there any other that matters?). So I briefly and unintentionally challenge it...but it's like checking to see if your house is haunted. Tough to pinpoint.

So, again, I vow to take my meds for THIS month...not missing a day and seeing where I stand in 12 - yes kids, TWELVE weeks when it kicks in enough to "see if I feel better". Hrmmmpphhh...now I think we're getting somewhere. Is that not the dumbest thing you ever heard? "I think I'll have a headache or heartburn in November....I better take something now". Dumb. Dumb dumb dumb, Stupid, dumb. 12 weeks. Unreal.

Kick the day off with a good vent...then moving on to something cheerful! In 12 weeks.

Soccer & baseball and spring/summer 2009

Girls Soccer, Little League & Summer Baseball:
Kathryn leaned hard on me and got me to register her for soccer instead of softball this year, and she was so right. She loved it, and was such a natural. There is no doubt she's a soccer-kid.....is that all that's necessary for me to be a soccer mom? Perhaps, but not a natural. Her coach was a very kind gentle guy who was more than happy to teach her and was as stunned as I as she took to the field in those first few games and understood the strategy and game so much better than we assumed she could. On the hottest days the struggle to not overheat was great - baseball is a much slower-paced sport and soccer requires almost constant running....but she made an impression on everyone! The record was solid, the experience was great and she will surely be back!! She already is counting the months until next spring! (The picture to the right is our home-away-from-home...baseball, soccer, football...amazing sunrise and sunset...newly lit Memorial Park at NHS)

Bryan had a banner year on the Cardinals team with Coach Niles. He learned a ton, had a great record, and endless fun...the baseball trifecta! His Summer Ball teams, historically, have not been open to allowing kids to play a broader spectrum of positions (the favorites remain the favorites for most key positions), which is discouraging at times to me, but not to him. I looked at Summer Ball as an opportunity to hone and perfect strengths - but the key is to expect little from the coaches in terms of their commitment to the "new" kid, and let the kid play wherever the coach puts him. Vital lessons for parents: opinions are yours - keep them that way. Bryan has a great outlook and I'll be dipped if I point out what is obvious to me. Nothing good can come of it, so we don't go there. You hang on an hope for another year like Bryan's was with Tom Niles and crew. That was enough to rejuvinate us for years to come. You walk away a better person, player and team mate. Life lessons & inspiration. Bryan has had several of them, actually...the Greats.

Joe's Defenders team had a more wide-spread variety of skill-sets and understanding of the great sport of baseball (not surprising at his age bracket)...so his year proved to be more of a challenging year, but his Summer Baseball season has more than made up for it! Summer Ball is nearly over and his team is udefeated. With numerous drastic comebacks from deep in score-hole to double and even triple-play scoring....this team is not powerhouse, but definately a DreamTeam of dirt dogs. Again, he has an awesome coach, and thank God because he'll go right from Summer Ball to football with the same coach - he's ours right into November!

A few pics from the last round (or 2) of sports season...

Now, what DO you suppose that Ump said to get that expression?? Wish I knew...
Kathryn playing goalie for N. Korea (ya, what? N. Korea? I dunno....)
Joey pitching for Defenders
Sunshine & Blue Skies...we're in our glory.
Bryan pitching for Cards.



Bryan Pitching - threw short innings, and pitched nearly the whole game. 76 is the max per game...

Summer 2009 - One more full day of school left! Yikes...

title="Wordle: SummerPalmatier"> src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/957739/SummerPalmatier"
alt="Wordle: SummerPalmatier"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">

And here it comes. The greatest (and hardest) days of the year, perhaps of my life, are upon us...The best photos, the most laughter, the best holidays, and the most invigorating to ALL the senses. Here it comes.

title="Wordle: PalmatierFamily"> src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/957423/PalmatierFamily"
alt="Wordle: PalmatierFamily"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">

The Good Ol'Days....we like to think so, anyway...

Memories are such a funny thing…they evoke emotion, and sometimes are so crisp you can close your eyes and convince your other senses to play along. The broken parts of things that I remember are so random…what sandwich I had in Spain as a small girl, sitting in a café and peering out a window that overlooked a plaza or courtyard…one which I’m sure I should know. I remember a flock of tiny lambs hop, hop, hopping over some rocks, following me. I was 5, at most. I saw the changing of the Guard, but that’s more faint in my memory than some dreams I had around the same time. The lambs however, are very real…like it was yesterday. As was the snail…my pet snail in Spain who followed me on a long walk. My mother wouldn’t allow it to ride home on the plane. That’s about all I remember from the 2 week excursion with Mom and Betty. Awful, isn’t it? The snail and lambs could have happened on the cape….and saved a few grand.


Can anyone explain that phenomenon? I find it bazaar. My mother tells me all these things we did and I can’t recall so much at all and yet I remember minor, insignificant things…


So, this leads me to wonder what my kids will remember. Will the memories be deep, strong and lively? Or will they remember when I snapped at them in the car for interrupting, rather than that I attended every practice and game, and helped the coaches determine the final schedule from the overall one? Will they have more shared memories or will the facts be mired in fluff and frosting that even the things they do together as a family all feel so different to each of them?


I think sometimes the silly stuff I try to “make” matter, just won’t. And the stuff that is-what-it-is, is what sticks with them….The time Mom burned the roast or left the spaghetti sauce on the stove for 24 hours on low heat. Or the time the washer blew up and left putrid water all over the floor. And the day Joe fell off the railings of the gazebo and hurt his ribs, then fell into an old-school, in-ground garbage container when someone popped the lid open just as he ran across it and nearly broke his leg. Within a few more hours, his hand was closed in Dad’s car door of the caddy. He escaped very serious injury each time, that he had no business escaping. Now, will he recall the fact that clearly he needed to be better supervised, (well, no kidding) or will he remember the humility of needing help again…or will he remember the warmth, affection and feel-better hugs from Mom or Daddy? Or will he just remember that he was “accident prone”…which prompts Mom to constantly remind him that he needs to think-first!!

Once Upon A Time - on the Cape.....from Judy.

Lynn and her kids, Linda, Matt, Laura and Cody and I did one of annual 'family days' during the summer. Always an exciting event - we choose a day during my vacation week and are determined to spend it together no matter what we do.

So this particular year - we opt for the go karts, paddle boats etc on Rte 28 in Wareham, to be followed by an afternoon at Scusset Beach. We arrive and start making the rounds of the various activities. Judy and Matt drag racing in Go-Karts, Maddie and Cody trying to reach the pedals with Maddie's car going about twice the speed of Cody's (much to his chagrin, but to Maddie's delight!). All the while I am frantically snapping photos, trying to capture every precious second for posterity and our ever growing family photo collection.

Next we move to the paddle boats - which, unlike any others I have been on - have squirt guns attached to the steering wheels, so not only do you try to crash into each other - but you spray the opponent in the face with a squirt gun as you approach. Is there ANYTHING more fun that??? So....at one point, Lynn is standing on the dock and the rest of us (Me, Cody, Matt, Kath, Bryan and I think Joe) are paddling and squirting away - and I notice Lynn madly clicking away on her camera, much like I had been, to capture the wet hair, screaming faces, and hysterical laughter of all of us. After a few moments, I notice she is sort of motioning me over to one particular side of the pond. Thinking she is trying to help mw with some sneak attack on my prey (MATT!), I pedal my way over...she keeps motioning "a little more, a little more" and finally she stops, grins and begins snapping the camera again in rapid fire. Wow - can't wait to see those shots, I'm thinkin.

Once we get off the paddle boats, I ask to see the pictures and she bursts into laughter - to show me that she was NOT as eager to snap MY photo, as I had thought, but the really HUNKY deck hand who was in control of the ride!!! We now have numerous shots of me, barely in the picture and numerous shots of the tanned, VERY YOUNG, extremely well built, oblivious summer help!

Some things NEVER change! One of the best days EVER I might add! Next installment - the quandary of how to keep Judy in the shade at Scusset!

Easter fun...

Kathryn rose this morning before the Easter Bunny had made it back to...(wait, where the heck does the Easter Bunny live?)...due to her rising excitement over giving the other kids their gift baskets. A few weeks ago, she began asking for chores she could do that would be in addition to the normal stuff in hopes of earning some money. She made the most adorable little baskets for everyone in the house...a little nurturer-at-heart, who shows her affection not by giving gifts, but by thinking of you, planning, and getting excited to catch you off guard, and make you feel loved. She shops on her own, and has the most creative little ideas and an eye for it. I'm not sure I can compare it to Jesus turning water into wine, but she does make a little Dove chocolate egg into an overwhelming expression of love...

As I type this, Joe sneezes and only half gets his elbow over his mouth/nose....she's too close to him, playing XBox360 together...and she's yelling at him to "Cover!!! What was THAT?? You didn't even TRY to cover?!!!" and he's explaining it was a sneak-attack sneeze..."I was trying to, KATH!". I guess the miracle of no fighting hasn't fallen over our house yet! And what is this mid-40's and windy garbage???

Baseball Season......yet again!!

Bryan is on the Cardinals (LL Majors) and Joe on the Defenders (LL AA)...we're just breaking the ice with practices - each of the boys has had 4 or so, but they are getting back in the "swing" (har har har).

Glad to be getting back outdoors! Finally! They are warming up nicely. Can't wait to get some pics!

~L

Once Upon A Time - at Papa John's in Oak Bluffs

Once Upon A Time... I (Lynn) performed a full wardrobe change (pants and all) in the booth at Papa John's in Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard...Papa's was PACKED. Dad (Jim) was just rolling his eyes and wondering where this kid came from?! I had totally forgotten this experience until Laura mentioned it the other day. (Needless to say there is no photo to go with this post...)

Once Upon A Time........

The "Once Upon A Time" stories are kicking off on this blog...Here's the deal. Any story, the crazier the better, should be posted here with the cut-to-the-chase punchline. Give enough of a summary so it works, and LAUNCH. Feel free to send them to me if you like, to get them posted. I will credit them or not as you wish...Gimme your favorites, Baby! Muckerheide, Palmatier and Spencer ones are most sought after....bring it.

Last Weekend....(cont'd from "A Change of Plan" Blog re: my Dad)...

Last weekend was a whirlwind....of epic proportions....a debacle, to say the least.

Friday afternoon: I dropped Joe and Kathryn at a play date for dinner. On the way, my truck blew a brake line, while driving. I limped home, without any further damage...just an "Aw Crap". Upon return, I got a call saying Joe had fallen and cut up his knee, but was OK. He wanted to stay, and Kathryn would patch him up. You know when kids really WANT to believe in something, so they take any explanation for the "impossible" and accept it? I guess that's what I was doing....

Friday eve: I picked up Joe (Kath stayed for a sleepover), and his knee was worse than I originally assumed, and it was evident that stitches were in order. We spent the evening with my friend (and chaperon) Kat in the ER getting stitches, but it was under 2 hrs start to finish, so I considered it a success. The Doc shortened Joe's "no-contact-sports" time to 12 days from 14 so that he could make it to baseball's 1st practice. Score! Joe was enormously brave and toughed it out, only quivering briefly when they injected the Novocaine. Come to think of it, maybe it was I who quivered....for all my tough-guy talk, I can *take* it much better than I can watch my kids have to take it. But we don't waiver...we just whimper and do it.

Saturday: I took the truck to my Dearest mechanic (John), and he put the truck on the lift and determined I was NOT allowed to leave with it...that I would drive it anyway (can you imagine ME doing that? OK....so he's right....) and the brake line damage was "substantial". (Ouch, that stings a little...but I trust nobody more than John, so I guess it is what it is)

Still Saturday - Moments later: Mom calls and I am still sulking pitifully in the mechanic's bay, quietly stroking my tired old truck just as I had tried to comfort Joe the night before. She's been good to me. As I answer the call, it is immediately clear that she's in panic mode...Dad has fallen, and the ambulance has already been called. In an effort to shorten this too-long-blog, you can read that story here.

STILL Saturday: Kathryn calls as I leave the hospital and she is in tears, and I'm catching about every 4th word. Sniff, sob, whimper, hamster.....sniff, cage, whimper, sob, sniff, dead....Damn.

Late Saturday: Chris' grandfather passed away. He had fallen ill with a norwalk virus / flu, and been hospitalized a week or so earlier. He had deteriorated and while we knew it was coming, it was still a chapter closing...for Chris and his family as well as for our children. It was the last of their surviving great-grandparents! When Maddie was born, she had half of them still alive to greet her. May we all live as long as Bumpa did, and do the things he enjoyed right up until that week.

Sunday morning: Chris' Mom called her aunt Terry to inform her of Bumpa's passing the night before. It turns out her daughter, Barbara (Cathy's cousin), had developed some sort of internal bleeding and a recovery was deemed to be nearly impossible. She continues to cling to life, against the odds, and is making strides toward a recovery. Our prayers remain with her.

The rest of Sunday: Mom and I spent it getting a catering job ready (having lost Saturday in the hospital) for an early Monday catering job in Winchester...one of Mom's best friend's mom.

Sunday night: Mom checks the mail at her house as I'm wrapping up to take Maddie home to crash, and in the mail from Saturday is an envelope from Saturday...she has copied every bit of (extensive) research that she's done for her son (a Jr in HS) and mailed it off to us after offering to do so at Cathy's on St Patty's Day. That's such a great summary of who she IS, to the core. Prompt, thoughtful, considerate and kind...she mailed it to several cousins who are about the same age.

Monday: Catering job, uneventful and lovely. Something should be!!

Still Monday: We got word that Drew's grandfather on his Dad's side had passed away on Sunday.

Tuesday: Wake for Bumpa. Smooth and "as planned". Wow! Something went off without a hitch!

Wednesday: Funeral. Mom called beforehand to say that Dad is in tremendous pain, deteriorating a bit and is headed into Boston to be admitted. I pick up Drew and take him to the funeral home and church. During the mass Drew is wonderful and snuggly, so long as I scratched his back, a tactic against which he has no defense...he practically snores even while awake. It's comical. During the Offering, Joe manages to inhale the host - the Body of Christ - directly into his windpipe. Uh, that can't be good...and after a quick one-handed Heimlich-like wrench to his little body we had silently resolved the crisis.... Now, how abnormal is that? OK, substantially.

Thursday: The Rodeo I'm driving (Mom's car, since Dad can't drive anymore) won't start on the way to get Kathryn and Joe to school. At this point I'm so under-the-bus that tears well, even though I really have NOTHING to cry about, and rarely get to that point. A little later, I get a call saying my truck is done! Yippee!!! But, wait....they never called to say HOW much it was going to cost....total damage? $406.27. On the up-side, Dad got sprung from the hospital tonight....more on that here.

So here I sit, one week - almost to the minute - after leaving the hospital with Joe and thinking it would just be a normal week. I guess I don't remember what "normal" is...but I'm pretty sure this'aint'it......Kathryn just called....she fell at her friends house and cut up her hands. I'm sure it's nothing.....nothing abnormal.

Here's to the weekend.....Catering job, funeral, for 200 tomorrow. And Chris leaves Sunday early afternoon to return to traveling again. Well, HEY! At least it's spring. We have stitches to take out before baseball next weekend!